I have had annother update from Dianne Summers – the brave lady from Cornwall who along with Richard vickery is attempting to get the Camelid community to face up to the TB issue. Dianne has very bravely put a link to a video of one of her beloved Alpacas in his last days up for all to see.

Raphael had a very characteristic cough – one which any Alpaca keeper should be on the look out for as it could mean there is a serious problem. Any of you out there who keep Alpacas, I urge you to look at this and listen carefully. If any of your animals sound like this then get a vet to check them.

TB cough in Alpacas

On Thursday I gave a talk at the GVS autumn meeting on “Artificial Insemination in the Cashmere Goat – Our Experience”. I won’t bore you all with the technical details of what I said but it was a brief gallop through who we are, why we did it, how we did it and of course, the results.

There were lots of pretty pictures to help keep people awake including these of some of my bucks:

It was well received I’m very pleased to say and generated lots of good questions afterwards which must mean a) people were listening and b) they found it interesting enough to want to know more!!

I was very heartened by this as it is extremely difficult to stand up in front of a specialist audience of 70 people, most of whom were practicing vets with far more experience than I and expect them to listen to a farmer’s experience. It’s a real credit to the GVS that they do in fact do this at EVERY meeting. There is always at least one farmer session where the people like me, at the sharp end of dealing with the animals and their problems on a daily basis get to address the experts.

It’s also a marvellous opportunity for us to hear all the latest ideas and to talk to some of the key experts in goats.  Dr Rose Grogono Thomas from Bristol University Vet School, who is an authority in foot problems in sheep and goats, was there and my vet and I had a really good discussion about some particular problems. Others were doing the same with different experts but always the conversations were two way. We would ask something and the expert would say: “Have you tried X???? How did you get on? Did you find it worked? Did you do what it said on the tin or did you try it in a different way???” etc. We were all learning from each other.

One subject which DID NOT come up was TB in goats. This has been discussed in detail at the last two meetings because there were active issues relating to the outbreak in 2007 in Wales.  Currently there are no goat herds/flocks under restriction I believe in the UK so for us, the issue is under control.

This was entirely due to the Movement Licensing system goats have to operate under AND the full cooperation of goat keepers and farmers who immediately provided names and addresses of possible contacts on and off their farms. If Camelids had the same system maybe they would not find themselves in the sorry state they are now in. Another herd of over 100 Alpacas is under restriction in Devon as I write.  They have got to put their house in order and get this under control for their own and everyone else’s sake!!!

All in all a good day but I was mightily relieved when it was over!!

I was at my class at Coldharbour Mill today and the subject of sett came up.  We were discussing the formula

S = TxR

IxR

where S is sett, T is number of wraps round a ruler in one inch, R is the number of ends in one threading repeat and I is the number of times the weft intersects with the warp.

Correct me if I’m wrong but why can’t we just cancel out the Rs in this equation? We discussed this round the table during our theory session and worked through a few examples with and without the R using twills and 8 shaft satin. We could get no difference.  Someone out there with more knowledge and more mathematical brains – is there any reason for retaining the R in the calculation??

I have just started weaving my cushion cover using my own wool. I’m quite pleased so far.  The design should close up nicely a) off the loom and b) when it’s washed gently. The particular problem I have is the selvedges which will always draw in with this kind of pattern so I have decided to use a temple. We don’t have one small enough so I have just had a look round on the web. Sure enough here is a “do it yourself” version which is infinitely adapatable to width although it will have to be moved even more often than the tradiiotnal wooden type I imagine. Still, its a simple neat solution. I particularly like the idea of the paper clips. The hooks on all the temples I have seen so far look incredibly vicious – guaranteed to cause snags in anything fine I imagine.

So far the drawing in is not an issue but as weaving progresses, I can see I will have undulations at the edges!! Best to act now before things get beyond repair!!

As most of you will know, the farming industry is fighting a losing battle against Bovine TB. Thousands of cattle (and now other species as well) are infected each year and the risk to human health is growing.

The government have decided a cull of badgers, which are now universally regarded as the prime reservoir of the disease, is not allowable. All they will do is promote a long term and incredibly costly vaccination programme for the said badgers.

The vaccination programme is being trialled in a few areas of the country next year. Tiverton is one of them. We have a TB hotspot here although all but one of my cattle farmer neighbours are clear. Three local Alpacas herds are now heavily infected and since there are others locally which are refusing to test, the risks are huge. Goats are very vulnerable to TB if they come into contact with it although the evidence is they don’t act as primary hosts. To the best of my knowledge, there are currently no goat herds in Devon or Cornwall under TB restriction but that could change overnight.

As a responsible farmer, living in the trial area I have therefore decided to sign up to the Badger Vaccine Deployment Project. Only a few of those who sign up will be chosen in this area for the first year so I don’t know if we will be selected yet. If we are, it means allowing access for trapping and vaccination on about 6 nights a year.

I know some neighbours think I’m mad. My view is that if this is all the government are offering, and it’s free, (ultimately, after the end of the trial, farmers will be expected to pay to have this done themselves), it’s a no-brainer. If it works – great. If it doesn’t and cattle and other species still get TB in this area then its still worth doing if only to prove the government wrong.

As far as I know our badgers here are healthy. If they were not then the cattle that  live here would have TB by now. If we can get them vaccinated before they get it then it seems logical to try to do so. Once in the local badger  population the vaccination issue  gets a little less clear.

We wait to see if we are one of the chosen band.  Watch this space!

Firstly, a big Thank You to all those on the Tea Shop Knitters Fibre Retreat who wrote so appreciatively after your visit here last Saturday. I loved seeing you all and as you probably guessed, like nothing better than to show off my animals!! Terry – you can certainly do it again next year!

For those who were here that day, and for anyone else I would like to announce.. (Drum Roll and Trumpet fanfare….) my 4 ply cashmere has finally arrived from the Mill!!! It’s gorgeous, so if anyone is interested, just email or contact me through the Blog. Currently its all Natural which is as below here

I shall be dyeing later this week and over the weekend and from then on I expect!!

I had a group of 12 lovely ladies visit on Saturday.  They were from the Fibre Retreat organised by The Dartmoor Tea Shop Knitters. What is it about people who knit, spin weave or dye which makes such an instant bond among them? This group had been together only since the previous day and, as far as I know, were mainly strangers to each other, but after 24 hours, they were all clearly getting on like a house on fire!!

We had a good tour round the animals. Fortunately the weather was fine and the grass not too wet. Everyone asked amazingly intelligent questions and seemed happy with the answers I’m pleased to say.Then it was back to the house for tea and biscuits and a sit down!

I had set out all my yarn for sale in our sitting room so those who wished to could browse at the same time.

I love the informality of this. I don’t have a physical shop (although there will be one on my website very shortly) but on the odd occasion I get a group I put everything out on tables and racks for them to see. I enjoy it and sitting on a comfy sofa while choosing yarn and supping tea is so very English!!

Unfortunately my 4 ply cashmere yarn was delayed at the Mill so wasn’t there but it will be back for today!!! So anyone looking for 4 ply from me contact me later this week It will be in Natural and a range of hand dyed colours – when I get round to it. I am giving a talk on Thursday at The Goat Veterinary Society so until then I shall be locked in communication with PowerPoint! After that I shall be producing a range of colours to suit my mood and the autumn/winter season.

I am getting quite a few hits on my Blog from people using the above terms. Since I have had several goats with this over the last three years I thought I would share my experiences. I will say right now that I AM NOT A VET so anything I say here must be taken as the experience of a layman. If you wish to do as I have done then you should  consult your vet first. If your vet knows little or nothing about goats then he/she should talk to the Goat Veterinary Society for guidance. They are always up to speed on what is acceptable usage of drugs in goats.

In my experience here, Listeriosis in the goat is dramatic and usually fatal. I have found it extremely hard to save adults but easier to save kids. Both CAN can be saved but the method which works here is time consuming and expensive so this won’t be for every situation. It also depends on how quickly you realise what is going on. You have very little time to decide; it is such a quick process. It can be as little as 6 hours from first symptom to death so if you suspect Listeriosis then don’t say “I’ll see how she is in the morning!”  If you have valuable stock or a treasured pet then its worth  trying to save them. If you have an old lady near the end of her useful life then it would  be kinder to the animal to have it put down swiftly. They can and do suffer a great deal of pain in this condition and the drug regime itself is not pleasant.

Firstly I must make it clear that I’m talking here about the Listeriosis which causes brain disease. The other type causes abortion. I have never had that here fortunately. Septicaemia can occur with both main presentations I believe.

Secondly, you must remember that Listeria (of both types) is capable of causing disease in humans so if you suspect it then for goodness sake, take precautions. Wear gloves and wash your hands etc.

What causes it?

Listeria Monocytogenes is the bacterium. It lives pretty much everywhere you find soil. Commonly it is picked up by the goat eating haylage or silage which was made in less than ideal conditions and contaminated by mud while it was being baled. Hay, being dry, is not such a risk. Wrapped bales of haylage or silage are a danger and if possible, goats should not be fed pickled grass at all. However, most bigger farmers like myself have no choice and we must therefore be vigilant.

It is not the only cause. I had one adult die as a result of grazing around freshly disturbed ground. The badgers had been turning over turf looking for earthworms.  No silage was involved.

The incubation period for Listeria infection is about 2 weeks – a very long time. So any suspicious signs should immediately make you think back to where your animals were and what they were eating a couple of weeks before. If they have been inside eating nothing but good dry hay for the last six weeks then Listeria is still possible but not perhaps top of the list of suspects!!

What are the symptoms?

These vary a little depending on the age of your goat.All symptoms are the result of brain damage and inflammation generally on one side. The opposite side of the animal will be affected. In my cashmere flock here, this is what I have seen:

Kids

Drooling saliva

Inability to open the mouth and chew – grass etc remains in the mouth and is hard to remove!!

Lop sided/drooping ear on the affected side

Any of these symptoms in a kid here will set warning bells ringing in me.

If you miss these signs it progresses very quickly to head tilt where the head turns to one side back along the flank, and recumbancy, where the animals lies down and can’t get up.

Symptoms in the adult

I have not observed drooling or lop sided ears in the adult. The earliest symptom here seems to be the inability to walk a straight line. Walking behind your flock when moving them from a to b you should always check carefully anyone walking persistently to one side. Their heads are going forward but their legs are taking them sideways! At this early stage you may also note other animals bullying the sick one. It’s nature’s cruel way of driving away sick animals which might attract predators to the flock. Anyone being bullied should be watched carefully for a while after you have separated it out. Goats sense illness before symptoms might be visible.

If you miss this, the next stage seems to be head tilt. Full circling, where the goat turns round and round, only happens here if the goats are stressed. I don’t see it very often. Only one of mine has shown this as a major symptom in a stressless situation.

The final stage is lying down, head completely tilted and paddling or thrashing about. At this point the goat is nearly gone and may be crying from pain. Not a pretty sight and you should call for swift help to end the animal’s suffering. Only once have I saved an animal at this point and  he was still able to get up – just! If your animal cannot stand then put it down. It’s kindest in the end.

Treatment

I say again that this is MY method, worked out with the blessing of my vet. You MUST consult your own vet before doing anything to your own animals.

Antibiotics are essential but you must use one which crosses the blood/brain barrier and gets right into the Central Nervous System quickly. You must also use much higher doses than normal for very much longer.

Here we use Duphapen, a penicillin antibiotic. For kids I use 5ml twice a day. For adults I use 5ml every six hours but with a first dose of 10ml. These doses are massive. In the adults it is absolutely essential to inject everty six hours in order to keep the level of the drug constantly high in the bloodstream. Any slight drop and the goat will quickly go down hill. I learned that the hard way having spent 2 days on the 6 hour routine I dropped to 3x a day. The goat went down hill again and I reintroduced the 4 th dose to good effect.

For kids I find 3 or 4 days is usually enough and then I go down to once a day and continue to day 10 at least. They seem to respond much more quickly than adults.

For adults it can be 4 days on every 6 hours, 3 days on 3times a day, a week on twice a day and then a 3rd week on once a day. It is a very long and difficult job. I often run out of places to inject, the goat becomes so bruised. It is NOT something to undertake lightly since in some ways the cure is worse than allowing nature to take its course.

Alongside all this we dose with a painkilling anti-inflammatory (usually Metacam) and of course, we have to stomach tube with fluid and electrolytes for those goats which cannot manage to drink.

This has been a very long post but I hope it might help a few to manage this awful disease. I cannot stress too much that I AM NOT A VET. You must seek advice from your own vet before doing anything.

Finally, here is a photo of my poorly buck from spring this year. He survived Listeriosis and is about to go in with his females to breed. He’s a little smaller because of his illness but is raring to go!!  Under stress he will still circle a little so clearly has a small amount of remaining brain damage, but he’s otherwisew very fit and well. Here is another link to a video of him two weeks into his antibiotics treatment. This is the first day he was able to eat.  He and I were so pleased! The background noise is a hen laying an egg!!

Can someone explain to me where the idea that sheep and goats are killed for their fibre comes from? It is one of the advantages of WordPress, which hosts this Blog, that you can see exactly what words and phrases are being used to find it.  This idea, in various word formats, comes up between 10 and 15 times a week!!!

I have posted on it before so won’t explain again (click on the link to see the post) but I am now seriously interested in finding out where the idea comes from. Apart from the poor unfortunate wild Shahtush that ARE hunted and  killed (illegally) for their fleece, I am unaware of any killing for fleece of a fibre animal – farmed or otherwise. It’s not logical to kill an animal which will produce a regular crop for you if you allow it!!

I wonder if it’s confusion over the fate of most sheep in the UK? Sheep are bred principally for meat. The wool is a byproduct for most farmers these days since the income they derive from it is pitiful. (40-70p a kilo before levies are removed). For most farmers it now costs more to shear the sheep each year than they get in income from the animal’s wool.

This is partly a quality issue. Most bulk British wool is produced by the sheep breeding flock ie older ewes and rams. This goes largely for carpets since the big meat breeds on the whole produce nothing but carpet grade. It is also an easy option for farmers. By belonging to the Wool Marketing Board they get a guaranteed outlet for a pretty average product. Unless they are prepared to market it themselves it’s the only way for most sheep producers.

Ffarmers send their meat  lambs off to slaughter  usually before their first shearing and their skins are usually tanned and sold in bulk for various trades. Sometimes of course they remain whole and are sold through retail outlets. Is this how the idea that sheep are killed for their wool started?

By the way, should you ever want a sheepskin rug, do ask where it was tanned. The large abattoirs sell to middle men who send thousands of sheep pelts to India every year for tanning and then reimport them for sale here. The carbon footprint that leaves is huge!!

Why do they do it when we still  have a few tanneries here that can do the work? Cost of course and that is driven by the total obsession with environmental legislation which has meant costs in the UK are unsustainably high.  India of course has no such regulation.

If you want an English sheepskin tanned responsibly in England then try Devonia Products in Buckfastleigh in Devon. They tan all my goat and sheep skins and do a brilliant job in a factory which is up to speed environmentally and is keeping the tradition alive here in the UK. It’s also only 30 miles away.

I tan very very few Bowmont fleeces because we rarely kill them – every one is needed for its wool, so when I do, the fleece deserves very special care. Devonia do an excellent job and I feel I’m supporting the local community by using them.

I wonder sometimes about some of the information put out by the more extreme vegetarian lobby.  I have seen comments to the effect that sheep shearing is cruel and painful for example. Well, all I can say is …RUBBISH!!! Sheep are thoroughly delighted to be rid of all that heavy weight of wool. You should see them literally jump and skip for joy as they realise they are 4 or 5kgs lighter! Of course, some shearers are not as gentle as they might be and I am the first to condemn rough handling, but the process itself is certainly not intrinsically cruel or painful. My fantastic shearer Raymond takes a good long time to get the fleeces off. I pay him a decent return for this and the result is a happy shearer and happy sheep!!

It is of course, exploitative. We have manipulated sheep to give us far more wool than nature intended and we are now responsible for the consequences of that. Leaving a sheep UN shorn would be cruel. Maybe this too is part of this confused message? I don’t know. However, I say again in case anyone didn’t get the message last time:

WE DO NOT KILL OUR SHEEP OR GOATS FOR THEIR FIBRE!

Tomorrow is Fair Day in Bampton. Founded in 1258 by Royal Charter of King Henry 111rd, it’s one of the oldest in the country and is a vibrant, community effort drawing crowds from miles around. Have a look at the website for pictures and details of what happens at one of England’s oldest and most traditional events.

Originally Bampton Fair was a gathering for Exmoor farmers to buy and sell livestock and also hire new workers for the coming year. This continues in the Exmoor pony sale although sadly the sheep fair has long gone due to regulation and the shift of market facilites to Exeter and other bigger centres.

Along with the Ottery St Mary Tar Barrels Ceremony it’s what makes this part of Devon absolutely unique. Neither of these events figure on “Tourist Trails” but they are what people SHOULD be coming to see if they want to get a real feel for the ancient, deep rooted communities which still form the back bone of this county.

I shall not be going to the Fair this year although I might make it to one or two of the Folk Events on the weekend after. I have the vet coming to begin another Artificial Insemination program this time on the goats. Only three this year because we are trying Laparoscopic AI so the cost is very high. Fingers crossed for a good result!

I’ve been inspired by my Eucalyptus Gunnii trees here on the farm to try dyeing some of my cashmere with their leaves and seeds. I will try the bark too but nearly everyone says you must soak the stuff in a bucket for weeks before using it so I can’t get the sort of speedy result I like.

I had three small sample skeins (5g each) of DK cashmere in the natural Ecru colour which I had premordanted with Alum and Cream of Tartar. I know mordanting is not strictly necessary with eucalyptus but I had these already done so thought I’d use them.

I heated up the leaves in the microwave for about 30 minutes of just below simmer then added the yarn. I repeated the timing so the whole process took an hour.

The colour is a little disappointing to me because it’s yet another gold colour which is what I seem to get most of in natural dyeing with things around the farm. However, in the darker sample it is a lovely strong colour and there is just a hint that there is something else beginning to creep through. There is a tint of rose pink appearing in patches which you can’t see in the photo. This may be where there is more or less mordant or it may be to do with a change in some leaves/seeds and not others. This being autumn, the leaves are old. Maybe the colours will be different in the spring when the sap is once more coursing throught the tree.

Cashmere dyed with E. Gunnii

I am never the most patient person (Indigo I think would drive me mad!!!) so for me this is a good result.  I think it would be worth experimenting more with different timings, boilings and amounts of leaves. Perhaps when I have more time…..??

One extra comment – the cashmere has definitely been affected by the process. Next time I would steam this. However, I do wonder if there has been any systematic look at what other chemicals are in natural dyes which might have an impact on the fibres themselves.  Plants contain so many complex chemical compounds it’s quite possible they might contain keratolytics I imagine?